The present invention relates to a transport device for conveying products, in particular blister packs.
In the pharmaceutical industry, so-called “blister packs” are frequently used as packaging for medications. These blister packs contain a plurality of pockets, in which the pharmaceutical products such as tablets or coated tablets are held. The blister packs are usually introduced individually or as stacks of blister packs into additional outer packaging such as folding boxes.
In addition to the blister pack, an associated product insert is usually introduced into the outer package. According to U.S. Pat. No. 3,524,530, a continuously moving, endless transport chain has several product receptacles, in each of which a product can be placed. It is also possible, with the help of a transfer device, to assign a product insert to each product receptacle. For this purpose, the product insert is transferred by the transfer device to an appropriate clamping pocket on each of the product receptacles. The transfer device consists of a rotary table, on which several grippers for picking up, holding, and transferring the product inserts are arranged in the circumferential direction.
In addition to the previously mentioned continuously moving endless transport chain for feeding the blister packs, a transport device in which several slides are moved independently of each other along a guide rail is known. In this case the guide rail comprises a linear motor drive device for driving the slides, wherein each slide comprises at least one permanent magnet, which works together with the linear motor drive device. A transport device of this type with a linear motor drive is known, for example, from WO 2013/156177 A1.